In U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,613 granted on Sep. 1, 1981 to Marvin Lacoste, mention is made of allowing taps or faucets to drip thus preventing plumbing from freezing by allowing slow flow of water therethrough. If such taps are not opened in time or enough, damage to the water system, particularly through burst pipes, occurs. As a result of such ineffective efforts, a variety of automatic opening devices exist in the prior art.
One group of automatic opening devices effect automatic drip or slow water flow in associated water systems, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,090 to Nakajima et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,556 issued to Allderdice on Feb. 20, 1968.
Other automatic opening devices automatically drain all water from the plumbing of associated water systems, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,965 to Morgan, U.S. Pat. No. 1,820,473 to Milone and U.S. Pat. No. 1,558,276 to Peterson.
In many such water system freeze protecting devices, bellows are utilized, and, depending upon the specific type of device or its geographic location, the bellows might be filled with water which will freeze to ice or might be filled with a fluid, such as Freon or a Freon-gas mixture which contracts as the temperature drops and expands as the temperature rises. In either case, the bellows is associated with a valve for draining the particular water system. Unfortunately, each year though the cold months numerous water pipes freeze, burst, and thereby cause considerable damage, particularly in single family homes and residences. As an example of such damage, in 1996 nearly 20,000 State Farm policy holders in the United States and Canada suffered water damage to their homes (or apartments) because water pipes froze and burst. State Farm paid almost $57,000,000.00 to cover such frozen pipe damage losses, an average of approximately $2,871.00 per claim.
Many people follow conventional tips/wisdom for preventing frozen pipes, and thus do not think frozen pipes can happen to them. Typically, a homeowner will disconnect all garden hoses and other outside hose connections; insulate all exposed pipes and crawl spaces and attics since they are susceptible to freezing, set thermostats no lower than 55xc2x0 F. (12xc2x0 C.) even when the home is not occupied during the winter; let water drip (particularly overnight on extremely cold nights from both hot and cold faucets located along outside walls); and open cabinet doors so heat from a room can get to non-insulated pipes under sinks or the like. Unfortunately, a sudden cold snap combined with heavy wet snows and/or freezing rain can result in downed power lines which cut off power closing down household heating systems, including the thermostats thereof, for hours or days with the result that freezing occurs in the water systems irrespective of following prudent freeze prevention measures.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel automatic valve system which is connected to the main water supply line at its point of introduction into a house, an apartment or the like. The valve mechanism includes a housing having a water inlet connected to the water supply from the street, a water outlet and a main valve which is preferably locked in a first position at which a diametric port maintains the water inlet and the water outlet in fluid communication with each other. In this position water is delivered from the water outlet to sinks, toilets, water heaters, etc. A shaft connected to the main valve is normally spring-biased in a direction which would move the main valve to a second position closing off water flow between the water inlet and the water outlet. However, the main valve shaft is immobilized with the valve in the first position by a temperature sensing mechanism which includes a bellows containing Freon or similar gas or fluid which contracts as the temperature drops. The bellows carries a locking pin which seats in a notch of the main valve shaft and, thus, is retracted therefrom as the Freon in the bellows contracts under temperatures at or below freezing. Upon the retraction of the locking pin, the biasing spring urges the main valve to a closed position cutting off fluid flow between the water inlet and the water outlet.
Contemporaneous with the closing of water flow through the main valve, another portion of the main valve places the water outlet in fluid communication with a drain opening or drain port which is connected by a tube or conduit to a floor drain, for example. Since all plumbing in the house is connected to the main water outlet of the automatic valve mechanism, water from all of the internal plumbing drains in a reverse direction into the water outlet through a drain by-pass port of the valve and a drain outlet of the valve housing into the drain pipe and subsequently discharges into the floor drain. Accordingly, should temperature in the house drop to or substantially below freezing, all of the water in the house plumbing is drained and no damage can occur therein. Furthermore, the water inlet and the main water supply are preferably heavy insulated and rupture or pipe bursting in this area is virtually impossible. However, should even this occur, the automatic valve mechanism is located immediately in the area into which the main water supply from the street enters the home, and this is usually a basement or a crawl space or the like. Therefore, should the water inlet side burst, any water from the street would not effect the living quarters of the house but would instead drain into a crawl space or a basement, and more likely than not the latter includes a floor drain which is normally code-required. Thus, the automatic valve mechanism assures that the main water supply is not only terminated under substantially freezing water conditions, but the house plumbing is also completely drained of water thereby preventing plumbing/pipe/appliance damage.
With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.